Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter.

     (1) "Director" means the director of licensing of the state of Washington or the director's designee.

     (2) "Notarial act" and "notarization" mean: (a) Taking an acknowledgment; (b) administering an oath or affirmation; (c) taking a verification upon oath or affirmation; (d) witnessing or attesting a signature; (e) certifying or attesting a copy; (f) receiving a protest of a negotiable instrument; (g) certifying that an event has occurred or an act has been performed; and (h) any other act that a notary public of this state is authorized to perform.

     (3) "Notary public" and "notary" mean any person appointed to perform notarial acts in this state.

     (4) "Acknowledgment" means a statement by a person that the person has executed an instrument as the person's free and voluntary act for the uses and purposes stated therein and, if the instrument is executed in a representative capacity, a statement that the person signed the document with proper authority and executed it as the act of the person or entity represented and identified therein.

     (5) "Verification upon oath or affirmation" means a statement by a person who asserts it to be true and makes the assertion upon oath or affirmation administered in accordance with chapter 5.28 RCW.

     (6) "In a representative capacity" means:

     (a) For and on behalf of a corporation, partnership, trust, or other entity, as an authorized officer, agent, partner, trustee, or other representative;

     (b) As a public officer, personal representative, guardian, or other representative, in the capacity recited in the instrument;

     (c) As an attorney-in-fact for a principal; or

     (d) In any other capacity as an authorized representative of another.

     (7) "Serious crime" means any felony or any lesser crime, a necessary element of which, as determined by the statutory or common law definition of such crime, involves interference with the administration of justice, false swearing, misrepresentation, fraud, the unauthorized practice of law, deceit, bribery, extortion, misappropriation, theft, or an attempt, a conspiracy, or the solicitation of another to commit a serious crime.

[1985 c 156 § 1.]